Meet Louise…
Heathy House is the newest service in our Active Pathways family, our 10 bed, step-down service in Halifax has been up and running for a few months now and Louise has recently joined our Occupational Therapy team. Louise brings with her a wealth of experience and knowledge in assessing and support individuals through their journey from acute and rehabilitation settings to reintegrating in to the community.
Louise has spent the last 2 years working in an NHS acute mental health setting, her role there included carrying out detailed assessments and making treatment and pathway recommendations for service users in crisis.
“I’ve spent a long time getting to know service users and having input into their future treatment plans without having the opportunity to see them through their recovery, this job enables me to be a part of a person-centred, end-to-end process, from assessment right through to discharge and achievement of their personal goals”
Occupational Therapy initiatives
As part of Louise’s role at Heathy House, she’ll work closely with our l Support Workers to deliver a programme of activities that will complement each resident’s pathway to recovery. A key aspect of activity planning that Louise is keen to share is the difference between leisure activity and therapeutic activity. Whilst leisure and hobbies are an important part of recovery and maintaining good mental health, Louise will also focus on activities with a therapeutic benefit, that are planned based on an assessment of the residents needs and what they want to work towards.
This level of planned approach requires a strong and detailed initial assessment process that includes getting to know the residents personally. This includes considering what their previous assessments outline, alongside what they perceive their own strengths and weaknesses to be, this is integral to achieving successful outcomes.
Future planning
Louise is driven to reintegrate residents into the community, she explained why having too many in house activities could actually prove detrimental to someone in the long term
“Holding in house activity groups is a great tool for building confidence in social settings, and for learning what you enjoy doing with your time, but it should be a stepping stone and not a long term plan. We want to encourage engagement in the community as the ultimate goal, so a phased approach works really well in achieving that.”
As part of this vision, Louise has spent time creating an incredible community links board. The easy-to-read board gives information on a broad range of facilities and support groups in the local area, broken down into categories and accompanied with helpful pictures to ensure it is easily understood. The folder that goes alongside the board includes more details, including dates, times and contact details for each group, to make it even easier for residents and staff to find what they’re looking for!
As Active Pathways grows, we look forward to seeing how Louise’s role grows alongside it.
For more information on Heathy House or any of our other services, or to make a referral, please contact Lisa at Lisa.Mullineux@Active-Pathways.com or click here to book a call.